


Rebuild Yourself, Piece by Piece

by starwarned



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F, I'll update the tags with new chapters for sure, Kissing, Lesbians, Original Character(s), Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Star Wars References, Useless Lesbians, so much awkward silence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24018922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starwarned/pseuds/starwarned
Summary: T's new to the Resistance. She sees Rey and maybe that's it for her.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey (Star Wars)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love Star Wars with my whole being, but I'm a little iffy on the technical stuff. I did a decent amount of research for this, but uh feel free to let me know if there's anything that doesn't make any sense or that I used wrong. This is my first chapter and I'll definitely write more, but I made a promise to myself to post it.

Being less than ten feet away from Poe Dameron is horrifying. Of course, she’s heard all about him even from across the galaxy. T’s about ready to walk right back onto the garbage pile she flew there in and disappear forever because the way he is just staring at her brings every insecurity bubbling to the surface. 

“Er… T, sir. I go by T.” She finally gets the balls to answer his question that he asked maybe six hours ago (or that’s what it feels like anyway). She sticks her hand out in a sort of half-baked attempt to shake his. 

He shakes her hand firmly. “Poe. Good to meet you. Finn says you’re good for language and translation.” 

Finn, who has neglected to say a word during the whole exchange, nods at Poe and nudges T’s shoulder as if they’d been life long friends. They’d met four minutes before. “She worked with Lando for the little while he was on Pasaana. I think she’d be an asset to Brance.” 

Poe doesn’t argue with Finn’s suggestion and they both silently start walking away. T feels inclined to follow and hopes that’s the correct decision. The pack that’s slung around her shoulder feels heavy even though it contains maybe eight things, likely because she feels so out of place with all of her belongings attached to her person. She can’t help but stare in awe at the base that’s been built up here. The skyscraper trees, the vines hanging down into the plants on the forest floor that she couldn’t name if someone held a blaster to her head. She’d never seen so much green in her entire life and it makes her a little teary. 

They walk past the Millenium Falcon and T smiles, remembering what Lando had described to her about the ship that was so special to him. There’s something that feels still warm about the hunk of metal that looks like it hasn’t been flown in a while. They bring her into a sort of makeshift communications center set up half inside a cave. There are people hard at work all around and most of them don’t notice the newcomer but a few of them look up and smile at T. It makes her sigh a breath of relief. 

“Brance, this is T.” 

T tears her eyes away from her surroundings and reaches out to shake Brance’s hand. He’s just a little taller than her and has soft features, except his eyes, which are dark and almost brooding. As soon as they’ve let go, T is sucked up into a whirlwind of what Brance expects from her if she’s going to work there with him. She’s shown a lot of equipment that she probably won’t remember the name or the uses of by tomorrow, but at least she knows she can pick it up over the next few days if she works at it. She’s never been a fast learner, but she’s thorough and she’ll work hard to get it if it means she can stay here. 

She discusses her skills with Brance and has to be extremely aware of her tendency to pretend she doesn’t know as much as she does. She’s used to downplaying her knowledge of language in order to stay safe. 

“Pardon my asking,” T interrupts Brance’s focused work on getting T her own access to the database. “But why don’t you use droids? As far as I’ve heard, you’re not short on translator droids around here.” 

Brance smiles for maybe the first time since T had met him. “C-3PO is really the only access to translation droid mechanics we have and he’s not necessarily reliable after his trip to Kijimi. Droids also cannot catch the subtleties of human phrasing, especially through translation. We’ve had better luck with humans.” 

T nods. She’s grateful that she has use.

She’s taught all the basics of the communication systems that Brance and the Resistance use. Because the large majority of the threat that the First Order posed has passed, messages being transmitted aren’t especially complex or urgent, so she won’t have to handle much sensitive information. Brance mainly wants T to take over this part of the work because he has more important matters to attend to throughout the day. He sends her off to get more settled in with a reminder to meet him in the morning. 

When Poe and Finn had walked her to the communications center, Poe had kind of indicated where she could find a spare bed, tucked away in a side of the Resistance base she hadn’t gotten the chance to explore yet. T starts in that direction and finds a set of barracks that she can slip into and begins to search for an unused bunk. She finds one in the corner of a room that has four other beds in it, two of which are obviously being used. 

T sets down her bag on the bed and unpacks (if you can even call it that). She has a couple of sets of clothes, a blaster she borrowed from Lando (that she absolutely intends to return at some point), a small stack of credits, a book of the Aki Aki language, and a brooch with a small design of a creature T could never identify. A bantha maybe? She doesn’t really want to think about it right then or it will make her cry, so she pushes it back down the bottom of her pack. She rests it just gently on the pillow at the head of the bunk and sits down beside it, tucking her legs up and crossing them. 

She didn’t think she’d get here. She’d spent so long on Pasaana, just trying to remain unnoticed until she could afford a ship (and maybe she’d done some not so great things to get there). Working with Lando was the break that T had needed. He gave her work, he gave her an excuse to work on her talents, and he gave her a friend on a planet where she really didn’t have one. She feels like crying a little bit, thinking about all this, but she stands up and dusts off the front of her pants before heading out to explore just a little bit more. 

T walks past a lot of people who she doesn’t recognize and who don’t recognize her, and she’s oddly content with that. She walks maybe a little too close to the bushes and the leaves tickle the outside of her right leg. She’s distracted from this constant sensation by an X-wing landing some hundred feet away, dust and dirt rising and settling. She walks closer once the trees have stopped rustling from the pressure of the air under the ship. The top lifts and T watches a woman slide down the side of the ship with ease. 

It’s Rey, she knows it. 

She’s heard more stories of Rey than she has of any other person in the galaxy (except for maybe Luke Skywalker), and she’s a little taken aback by how… beautiful Rey is. She’s a little sweaty and there’s a tear in her top just above her ribs, but somehow it’s the most erotic sight T has ever seen. 

She’s completely frozen in place and as Rey turns her head to gather in her surroundings, they catch eyes. What started as a fleeting glance becomes more. T and Rey just look at each other for what feels like days before Rey is knocked out of T’s line of sight by Finn, who has enveloped her in a huge bear hug. T smiles a little bit and walks back the way she came. She thinks about Rey.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is ALL exposition. Sorry!

T wakes up with more pain in her neck than she’s ever felt before. She’d spent the night in a state of distress and it shows when she can barely sit up in bed without moaning in pain. She rubs the back of her neck and glares down at the pillow that caused her this much grief. There are a few other people asleep in the beds near her so she is quiet as she gets up. She changes and finds her way back to the communications center to meet Brance again. 

They spend the morning bent over her book of Aki Aki as Brance is surprisingly interested in why and how T has learned all this language in such a short time. She had only been on Pasaana for two years and half of that time was spent in the service of Lando Calrissian, who had been there for years before that, living as a sort of hermit, picking up information in his solitary way. Her ability to understand the language was mediocre at best for those first several months, but she was thorough in working at it and when Lando was there to help her, she had another person to practice with. 

“How much binary do you know?” Brance sits almost leisurely near T while she struggles with understanding the interface of this new system. 

T puts on a smile even though her brain is just trying to grasp how she’s going to do this by herself in the future. She turns back to Brance. “Enough to understand. I can translate unless they’re talking droid humor, which doesn’t really fit nicely into our understanding of language.”

She’s trying to make a joke, but obviously that doesn’t translate to Brance’s understanding of language. He nods her back to work. 

T wants nothing more than to kiss Poe square on his mouth when he interrupts them. “Sorry, Brance,” he starts. “But I just wanted to introduce T to Rey.” 

When T turns around to face them, she feels stupid but can’t seem to catch her breath for that moment when making eye contact with Rey. Damn, she’s pretty. 

“Hi,” T says, reaching out her hand, deciding that the best way to go about this is to pretend that she isn’t extremely attracted to the savior of the galaxy. 

Rey takes her hand. “Hi. I’m Rey.” 

T stops herself from saying I know, and instead lets go and smiles. “Nice to meet you.” 

“You as well. Is Brance passing along the torch?” She seems a little standoffish after their hands aren’t touching anymore. Maybe T’s imagining it, but it feels like her attitude towards her changed in half a second. That takes care of her hope that maybe Rey felt the same thing that T did. 

“He’s trying. It’s a lot to pick up quickly.” 

Rey looks at Brance. “And why is she replacing you?” The tone of her voice makes T wince a little bit. It’s almost dismissive. 

Brance counters quickly, “She’s picked up quite a talent for this kind of work in her time on Pasaana with Lando. I have other things that are a little more pressing to deal with.” He seems a little more jovial (if that word could even be used to describe him) speaking to Rey than he ever does while talking to T, but she understands that he’s known her far longer. 

Rey’s eyes flit back to T. She’s a little scared to say anything even to defend herself because Rey seems unhappy with her presence. 

“Alright. Good luck learning the system.” She says it to T, but barely looks at her. “Brance, if I could have a moment of your time. Over here.” 

She and Brance walk away. Finn and T are left together and even though T’s emotions have gone through a whirlwind in the last two minutes, she’s glad Finn’s still there with her. 

“How are you settling in, T?” Finn’s eyes smile when he talks. 

“Doing alright, I think. This whole-” T gestures to the large system that she’s trying her best to understand. “-thing is a lot to handle, but I know that I can pick it up.” 

“Find a place to sleep?”

“Yeah, down in the south barracks.” 

“The south barracks? Those bunks are terrible,” Finn says, genuinely concerned with T’s comfortability. “Come sleep in our section with Poe, Rey, and I.” 

The idea of sleeping even kind of near Rey makes T’s heart palpitate a lot faster than she thinks is healthy. She tries to convince Finn, protesting, “No, it’s really not that bad. It’s only the first night so of course, it’s going to hurt my neck a little.” 

Finn reaches out to touch T’s arm, which is both comforting and firm. “Come stay in our barracks. They’re a lot nicer. We need someone to take Leia’s bunk anyways.” He gets a little sad but covers it up fairly quickly. If T didn’t know the story, she maybe wouldn’t have noticed. 

“I can’t take her bunk.” 

“She would have wanted someone to take it. Especially if it will make you adjust easier into life here. It’s a lot bigger than what you’ve got now.” 

“You must miss her,” T says quietly, not trying to start anything, but trying to show Finn that she cares and that she understands his pain. 

Finn smiles at T, nudges her arm a little bit. “I do. We all do. She was good.” 

There’s a pause of silence between them, but it’s not necessarily awkward. 

Rey and Brance still haven’t returned from the rendezvous they’ve started in the corner of the room so Finn tugs at T and says, “Here, let’s move your stuff over.” 

T considers protesting, but Finn seems like the kind of person who wouldn’t take no for an answer when he’s set his heart on something. She makes a respectful sign to Brance to show him they’re leaving. He returns it before turning back to Rey. 

Finn and T get her things and he takes her to the opposite side of the camp where another set of smaller barracks stand. There’s a sort of passage right at the front that leads to a room with four separate corners, three of which have obviously been used recently. The fourth corner with a bunk and a small crate set next to it is clean and hasn’t been touched in days. T carefully sets her pack next to the crate. 

“Leia didn’t really stay here that often, if it makes you feel any better. None of us did. We were all off fighting or being worried for each other.” 

That does make her feel better. She’s not sure that she’ll even end up sleeping there, though. She’s grateful Finn has accepted her into their ranks, but it’s a little weird how quickly that happened. 

T looks towards the door. “I should get back. Hopefully Brance and Rey are done.” 

“I’ll walk you,” Finn offers, always the good guy. “I’d like to get to know you a bit more if you’re going to be staying here.” 

“Sure.” 

As they walk, Finn talks a lot. T talks as little as she can. 

“So where were you before Pasaana?” 

“Here and there. Spent a lot of time on Tatooine. Deserts all my life.”

“And how’d you get here? That ship you came in didn’t seem to be in great shape.” 

“Bought it off a trader. I knew it wasn’t a great purchase, but it got me here.” 

“Why did you come here?”

T has to pause before answering the question because she doesn’t know if the answer is something even she knows. “This felt like the right place.” She could say more and she can tell Finn isn’t satisfied by her response, but he lets it go. 

They make it back to where Brance and Rey are still talking. Rey looks up and makes eye contact with T as they walk closer. 

“Thank you, Brance,” Rey ends the conversation once T and Finn are within earshot. “I’ll keep you updated.” 

T watches Rey as she leaves Brance and walks over to her and Finn. Finn and Rey start to leave, Finn knocking her shoulder. He likes doing that. Before they’ve gone far, Rey turns back and looks at T dead in the eyes. 

“We’ll be working a lot together, T.” For some reason, T shivers a little bit at hearing Rey say her name. She wants her to say it over and over again. “Listen to Brance. He’s good at what he does and he’s grateful someone is taking his place, even if he won’t admit it.” 

T looks back at Brance with a little smile. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Rey.” 

“Of course.” She and Finn walk off. 

T and Brance get back to work. There are a lot of technical elements of the work that she doesn’t understand yet, but Brance says she’s picking everything up really well. She’s grateful that he’s being kind to her. He says she will probably be able to work everything by herself within the next few days which gives T a lot of hope. 

Poe walks by a few times, doing his regular checkups on how everything is running and to talk to Brance about something secretive. T’s curious, but knows her place. She only catches a few words here and there, but chooses to focus more directly on how to connect comlinks that haven’t been used in years. She’s pretty sure Brance gave her that job as busywork while he talked to Poe. 

“T?”

She turns around. There he is, in all his glory. He’s still wearing that damned cape that she’d last seen him in. She runs at him and hugs him as hard as she possibly can. 

“Lando!” 

He hugs her back and laughs his big father figure laugh. She loves hearing him laugh. T pulls back in order to look at him a little better. He looks just the same as he did on Pasaana. 

“T, what are you doing here?” He asks, holding her by the shoulders. 

“Just following you around,” she jokes. She really does not want to get into it with him right now, nor does she want to talk about it in front of Brance (or Poe who has made his way back to Brance for a fourth checkup of the day). She notices that pack that Lando had put down when he stopped to see T. “Are you leaving?”

“You caught me at a bad time, T,” he said, a little sadly. “I’ve been here for a while and I have to get back to Pasaana.” 

T frowns. “You’re going back? Why wouldn’t you stay here?” 

“I have some unfinished business there.” 

“That’s the vaguest answer you could have chosen.” 

“And yet the most accurate.” 

“Can I at least see you off?” She looks back at Brance to make sure that’s okay. He nods his approval. 

Lando seems to think about it longer than T would have assumed for such a simple question. “Of course,” he finally answers. He picks up his pack and shoulders it. T follows him to the ship he’ll be taking back to Pasaana. It’s a little gaudy, more decorated than such a small and simple ship needs to be. Just Lando’s style. 

Lando gives T one last hug before he gets onto his ship, giving her a little salute. He smiles and she returns it. As the ramp closes, T notices a figure rushing past behind the ship as if just coming out of the back of it. She’s not sure if she’s imaging it, but she decides not to worry. Lando would have mentioned it if it was something important. 

She gets back to work.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time T’s figured out the damn comlinks, Brance has already left to get some rest. She promised him she’d be done before it got too late and maybe it’s too late, but she finished and that’s good enough for her. She stands up from her seat and stretches, needing the break from being bent over for so long. 

T puts the comlinks away and makes sure everything is locked up correctly before heading out into the semi-cold, night air. She considers going back to the bunk that Finn so graciously offered her, but it still feels weird so she decides against it. She also doesn’t feel great about going back to the south barracks so instead decides to explore a little bit. 

She hikes far enough away from the camp that all she can see is the dim glow of some of the lights coming from that area. It is really beautiful and T is grateful she even made it there in the first place. It’s lush and green, the trees are so tall, and she feels comforted by the closeness of everything. She finds a kind of clearing near the edge of a lookout over the tops of the canopy of trees and plants to set herself down. She tucks her knees up to her chest and pushes her hair back from her face, even if that doesn’t do much and her frizzy curls make their way into her eyesight again. 

She’s not sure how long she sits there, but eventually she leans her back against a nearby tree and watches the light wane. It’s especially interesting to her to hear the sounds that just naturally come from the forest around and below her. Because T’s spent most of her life on desert planets, this is a new experience and once she’s not taking for granted. The tree behind her feels steady and full of life, swaying oh so slightly in the wind. She’s surprisingly comfortable and she’s not sure when but she falls asleep. 

T’s woken up by a snap of a twig behind her. She sits up harshly, her neck cracking a bit from the position she’d been sitting in. She turns back and sees a dark shape of someone approaching her secluded part of the greenery. She starts to sit up but once the figure steps out a little bit and is illuminated by light of the two moons, T knows she isn’t in immediate danger. It’s Rey.

“Oh. Hi.” T sits up a little bit, but doesn’t make an attempt to stand. Her legs are asleep and she doesn’t want to look stupid trying to get up. Plus, what would she do when she stood up? Sit back down when Rey left her alone? 

Rey doesn’t really say anything at first. She steps a little closer to T’s tree. “Hello.” 

T has absolutely no idea what to say. She just sits. She tucks her knees up to her chest so she can rub them and bring some feeling back into her limbs. She looks up at Rey, wondering if she’s going to leave or stay. T’s not sure which one she would prefer. 

“What are you doing out here?” Rey’s voice is a lot softer than it was back in the camp during the day. T likes the way it sounds out here. 

T looks up at Rey once she has stepped close enough for her not to have to crane her neck so far back. “Uh, just wanted some fresh air.” It sounds stupid coming out of her mouth because the whole moon they’re on is fresh air. The quiet “couldn’t sleep,” that comes out of T’s mouth feels a little contradictory to the first response, but she can’t exactly take it back. She hopes Rey won’t notice.

“Didn’t Finn offer you a spot in our bunks?” 

T doesn’t answer because Rey is starting to sit down next to her and T can’t breathe anymore. They’re not even that close, but T tucks her knees tighter. 

T doesn’t really feel like explaining the whole process of her brain. “He did.” She can sense that Rey is looking at her, waiting for her to continue and explain her reasoning more. She doesn’t.

They’re both silent. It is a little bit uncomfortable but it’s also kind of nice that Rey is with her. 

“Why are you out here?” T asks, figuring that she at least has the right to ask Rey the same question. 

“Also couldn’t sleep.” Rey smiles at T. 

T’s stomach flutters a little bit. She feels like a child because of how Rey smiling is making her feel. Rey has settled a little more into sitting on the forest floor and has relaxed her body so she’s leaning forward against her knees. Her hair’s out of place from it’s normal styling, but it doesn’t look messy. Just different. T thinks she looks absolutely beautiful. 

T lets herself smile back at her. 

“I’m glad you’re here, T,” Rey says softly, turning her head back to stare over the trees. 

“Oh,” T says quickly, taken aback. “Thanks.” 

“Brance is as well.” 

“That’s good to hear.” T doesn’t add how much stress has been put on her shoulders because of attempting to take on all of Brance’s responsibilities. 

Rey reaches up and flattens the hair on the sides of her face so the flyaways don’t stick out so much. T feels the overwhelming need to kiss her right then, but she decides that’s not a great plan. She doesn’t think Rey even likes her that much. 

T trains her eyes back on the trees surrounding them and thinks about the last few days in this new place she’d somehow squeezed her way into being a part of. 

“What were you speaking to Brance about the first day here?” she asks, toeing the line between small talk and a conversation that means more than that. 

“When you and Finn disappeared?”

T nods. 

“That’s not your concern.” 

It doesn't necessarily sound mean coming out of her mouth, but the words themselves sting a bit. T knows she’s not the most trustworthy because of how little time she’d been around these new people. 

“Of course. Sorry.” T kind of kicks herself for apologizing, but she also feels like the galaxy’s biggest idiot for even bringing it up. She’s too curious for her own good. 

“Take some more time to settle in and for us to get to know you and I’ll update you on everything you need to know.” This is a kinder statement and T’s thankful for that. 

“Of course. I hope to earn your trust.” 

“I’m sure you will. Lando mentioned you a couple of times and he speaks very highly of your talent and loyalty.”

T’s heart warms. She misses Lando. “That old geezer has a soft spot for people he can teach and impart his many words of wisdom on,” she remarks sarcastically. It’s only sort of true. Lando likes the sound of his own voice more than anything. 

“That is very clear, even just having a short conversation with him. I never got to know him very well and he’s,” Rey pauses, searching for the right word. “Eccentric.” 

T laughs softly. They smile at each other. They’ve been doing a lot of that. It’s nice to be out there with Rey, even if it’s relatively cold and not quite bright enough to see all the details on Rey’s face. Rey has scooted a little closer in the last few minutes, probably to be in the protection of the tree against the soft wind that’s blowing through. T wishes she was even closer.

“How does it feel to have basically single handedly taken out the First Order?” T asks, kind of joking. She knows that many people fought bravely and lost their lives for the Resistance. 

Rey picks up on her joke, which T was really hoping for. “It was easy. No problem, really. Just showed up and took out the entire First Order fleet.” 

T giggles. It’s girly and she’s a little ashamed of how adolescent-in-love it sounded. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you joke.” 

“Usually, I’m a little busy to joke around all the time.” 

That sounds vaguely like a dig and T shuts her mouth. 

It’s a couple more minutes of silence before Rey says, “I think I’m going to head back to the bunks.” She shifts to face T a little more directly but doesn’t stand up. 

T waits for her to say something else, but when it doesn’t happen, they just end up staring at each other. T’s not sure what Rey’s look means, but it feels not unkind in any way, so she figures that it’s a good thing. She’s very sure that Rey can tell what kind of look T’s giving her. She wants to kiss her so badly. 

“Care to join me?” Rey says cooly, finally standing up. 

The way she says it is unusually… sensual. T thinks about saying yes and entertains a quick image in her mind of the two of them heading back to the bunks, getting into Rey’s bed and spending the night together. 

“To head back to the bunks, of course,” Rey adds after seeing T’s hesitation. 

Rey is hard to read. T can’t tell if she’s aware of her slight innuendo or if she just felt the need to provide T with more context. Either way, T feels very uncomfortable walking back to the bunks with Rey because she’ll just think about inappropriate things the whole way there.

“I think I’ll stay here for a while longer.” 

“Okay. Don’t get too cold.” 

“Of course. Don’t wait up.” 

Rey gives T one last smile before turning and blending back in with the trees as she walks back the way she came. 

T sighs and lies down, staring up at the sky, which feels brighter than it should be this late into the night. She’d grown used to just staring for hours on end up at only one moon on Pasaana. The ground is not very comfortable pressed against her back, but it’s better than sleeping in the unfamiliar bed of a woman whose reputation preceded her for years and years. A woman who gave her life for the Resistance. A woman who was like a mother to Finn, Poe, and Rey, she’d heard. 

T didn’t anticipate coming here and being so intensely attracted to Rey, who is extremely unattainable. When she really thinks about it, it’s not just a physical attraction. There’s some part of her that feels a pull to Rey that she’s not sure how to explain. It doesn’t hurt that Rey is sometimes nice to her. T has a soft spot for people who are even remotely kind to her. 

T thinks about getting up and spending the night in General Organa’s abandoned bunk, but knows that waking up tomorrow with some back pain is going to inevitably be better than waking up with the guilt of taking a bed she doesn’t deserve. She also isn’t sure if she would be able to behave herself sleeping twenty feet away from Rey. 

She adjusts her position a bit, takes off her outermost jacket and places it under her head for a minimal amount of comfort. She opens her eyes to look around herself one last time. It’s nice and she wishes she could spend all her time out here. She curls up on her side and falls asleep there, comforted by the soft glow of moonlight and the leaves rustling in the trees.


	4. Chapter 4

T spends three more nights sleeping outside before Finn interrogates her about it. She’s minding her own business, attempting to brush up on her Huttese by translating a passage from her book of the Aki Aki language into Huttese. She’s doing fairly well and feeling decent about her work until Finn’s voice rings out from halfway across the base, calling her name. She whips around and Finn is half walking and half sprinting towards her. She’s afraid that if she doesn’t move, she’ll be bowled over, so she steps to the right and waits for Finn to get to her.

“What?” she asks, feigning annoyance. Really, she’s glad to see him. He hasn’t been around her station for a while and because she hasn’t been in the bunks, their paths have not crossed. 

He grins a bit as he stops in front of her. “Hi.” He looks extremely chipper. 

“Did you need something?” T can’t help but smile at Finn even if he interrupted her work. It wasn’t that important, anyway. Brance was right when he’d mentioned that she wouldn’t have a ton of things to deal with. 

“I haven’t seen you in days. I wanted to make sure you were getting along okay.” 

T can tell he wants to say more, but he’s waiting for the right moment to accuse her of not coming to stay in the barracks with them. 

“I’m doing alright,” T responds simply. Maybe she can avoid talking about it if she doesn’t provide Finn with any details. 

“I’m glad you’re settling in. I haven’t seen Brance at all today and I think that’s good for him.” 

T knows Brance had plans to spend the whole day resting so she’s glad that his goals have seemingly been achieved. “The work has been really easy even without him. He’s a good teacher.” 

Finn leans against the edge of the console that T’s been working with. “Why haven’t I seen you in the bunks?” 

“Maybe I’m just an early riser.” 

“Sure.” He doesn’t believe her. “It’s not that hard to tell when a bed hasn’t been slept in, T.” 

“Sorry.” 

“It’s okay.” 

It doesn’t seem like it’s okay. T’s not really sure what to say to put Finn at ease, though. 

“Where have you been sleeping?” 

She feels bad for lying, but Finn seems like the kind of person who would be upset with her if she told him she’d been sleeping on the ground for the past few nights. “I just went back to my bunk from before. It’s been comfortable enough.” She can’t help it that she feels more comfortable outside than in either of the bunks that she has access to. It’s not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

“Well, the bunk is still open for whenever you want to use it. Some of your things are still there.” He eyes what she’s wearing that day (which is what she’s been wearing for three days straight, but he wouldn’t know that). 

T nods. 

“Plus,” Finn adds, trying to add a more playful tone into the conversation. “Rey’s probably getting a little tired of being around Poe and I.” 

“And why would she be tired of you?” 

Finn grins. “Many reasons.” 

Before he can really explain any further, his name is being yelled in a similar way that he had yelled T’s name only minutes before. Poe is jogging towards them and T smiles. They’re perfect for each other. They hug each other with such fervor that there’s no surprise the hug ends with Finn kissing Poe very quickly on the mouth. 

“I assume that’s one of them,” T says, trying to hold back a laugh. 

Finn doesn’t hold back his. “Definitely part of it.” 

Poe looks at T, a little apologetically. “Do you mind if I borrow him?” There’s a light air in the way he’s saying it, but T can detect a tinge of seriousness underneath.

“Of course not. I’ll see you guys later.” 

Poe and Finn walk back in the direction that Poe had come from, Finn shooting her a glance that she knew said  _ We’re not done talking about this _ . 

T turns back to her work. Because the “work” she’s doing doesn’t have any real applications to the position she’s taken over, she’s not extremely invested in what she’s doing. Her mind wanders. 

T thinks about Rey. She has this wall built up around her that T wants to knock down and build herself a little house inside of. She thinks about how close Rey sat next to her that night up on the hill. If she had been a little braver, maybe she would have done something more than just stare at her in awe, looking stupid. 

She barely gets to think about how she would have held Rey’s hand before she’s interrupted once again. Someone touches her lower back and she jerks forward out of surprise. When she turns around, she’s greeted by Rey and a seven foot tall Wookiee with an impressive collection of ammo strapped to his chest. 

T knows of Chewbacca. She’s heard a ton of stories, especially from the Aki Aki on Pasaana where he wreaked a lot of havoc during the Festival of the Ancestors. They’re not very fond of him there. But seeing him in person is a whole other experience and she’s quite terrified of his stature and arms that could snap her in half like a twig. Rey seems very comfortable around him and T wonders if she’ll ever get to that point. 

“Do you need something?” T asks, once she’s taken a couple of steps back so she can even fit Chewbacca into her line of sight. She’s glad to see Rey but the giant Wookiee is just a little distracting. 

Rey nods at Chewbacca. He makes a grunting noise and walks away. Lumbers away? When he’s gone, Rey scoots in a little closer to T. 

“That’s Chewie,” she says, like he isn’t one of the most talked of heroes in the entire galaxy. “He’s intimidating.” 

“To say the least.” 

Rey laughs a little. 

“Did you need something? Or did you just want to scare me into working harder?” 

“That depends. Are you not working hard enough?” 

T likes it when Rey jokes around. It makes her a little more relatable and a little less intimidating. 

“If you count practicing translating a language that I haven’t used since I was a kid, then I’m certainly working hard.” 

Rey laughs and then gradually sobers up. “I do actually need to talk to you about something.” 

“What’s wrong?” 

Rey checks around and then taps her fingers on T’s arm, just above her wrist. “Follow me.” 

T tries not to think too much about the feeling of having Rey touch her as she follows her to Rey’s part of camp. She has her own station built into the side of a cave up on higher ground. T’s seen her up there a few times, but she usually looks like she’s busy so T’s never dared to bother her. Once they’ve gotten up there, Rey sits and motions for T to sit just across from her. She does so. 

“You came here by yourself,” Rey states, phrasing the statement like a question in order for T to confirm it. 

“Yes.” T wants to ask a thousand questions, but she waits for Rey to explain.

“You’re certain?”

“Yes?” T  _ is  _ sure, but the way Rey is interrogating her is making her nervous. “Yes.”

“Alright.” 

“Can I ask what’s going on or are you just going to keep up the inquisition?” 

Rey leans back a little bit and makes a soft, frustrated noise. “I’m sorry. We’ve had some concerning information and you’re one of the only new people to the base in the last little while.” 

T nods. “I understand that I would be under suspicion.” 

“Have you heard of the Fifth Sons?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Rey sighs, running a hand over the left side of her face, clearly struggling to explain the entire situation to T. T appreciates that she’s trying. 

“They’re a group of fanatics popping up on Bespin. Even though the First Order fleets were completely taken out, there are still supporters. They weren’t terribly concerning until Poe received word that they’re planning some sort of attack. We don’t know when, where, or on what. We don’t even know how many supporters they have. We’re really in the dark here.” 

T furrows her brow. “Is there anything I can do?” 

“Just keep an eye on the scanners. Kin has sent out intel to our supporters around varying systems, but because he’s been away for a while, he’s got a lot of work to catch up on and can’t wait around for responses. If you’re up to it, that can be your responsibility, at least for the next little while.” 

“Of course.” T’s heart races a little at the idea of being a part of this, even if it’s not in great circumstances. The situation is not what T had hoped for, but at least she’ll be useful. 

Rey leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees, looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry to just put this on you.” 

“It’s okay.” T mimics her pose so they’re a little closer together, but she looks up at Rey. “I’ll do my best to not let you down.” 

“Finn hopes that they’re just rumors.” Rey tilts her head back up so she’s looking at T. Their faces are very close and that fact is not lost on T at all. “I think he’s too optimistic.” 

“He seems to be like that a lot of the time,” T remarks. Even from knowing Finn all of four days, she can tell. He looks like his mouth is about to fall off from smiling wherever they see each other. 

“He is. Poe and I aren’t like that. Poe is constantly prepared for and expecting the worst.” 

T smiles and laughs softly. “That’s why you guys don’t get along so much. You’re so similar.” 

“Who says we don’t get along?” 

“Any person who sees the two of you talking louder than a hushed whisper,” T retorts, mostly joking, but she has seen them have arguments that stem from unimportant topics. 

Rey laughs and sits up, tucking her leg under herself. “He’s challenging sometimes.” 

They fall into a bit of silence. T shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “I should probably get back, then.” She doesn’t really want to leave Rey’s presence  _ ever  _ but if she’s going to be an asset to the Resistance, she should take her work more seriously. She’s prepared to sleep at her station if it means she can be useful. 

“Of course.” Rey stands. “I’ll walk you back.” 

T nods her thanks. 

They walk back down together, standing close enough together that if she wanted to, T could reach out and grab her hand. She doesn’t, of course. 

When they’ve gotten back to the Intelligence station, T sets up the monitoring system for any incoming messages that might be transmitted. She makes an internal promise to herself to be there as often as she can. She won’t be the one to mess this up. 

“Thank you for keeping me updated. I appreciate it.” T reaches out and gently holds Rey’s forearm, squeezing it for just a moment. 

Rey seems to lean into T a little bit, just so their faces are closer together. T breathes out softly and it rustles the loose hairs on the sides of Rey’s face. 

“Don’t let me down.” 

T knows Rey is completely serious, but the soft smile on her face makes it clear that she doesn’t think T will actually let her down. 

They look at each other for just a moment before Rey steps back and smiles at T. “I need to go find Chewie. I’ll check in on you later?” 

T nods. She’s not sure if they were having a moment or if she was imagining it. Either way, she knows Rey at least kind of trusts her, and that’s priceless. T turns back to the console she’s going to be attached to for the foreseeable future. Might as well get used to it. 


	5. Chapter 5

T’s not sure if it’s something she should bring up to Rey. She’s not even sure if it’s important or relevant. She considers bringing it up to Finn, but what if it isn’t new information to them? What if they get angry with her for not telling them sooner?

T sighs and sits back in her chair. 

It can’t be anything. She’s sure of it. 

She eyes the screen in front of her. To an outsider (like she was a few days before), it would be unreadable just by looking it at. The encryption on the specific channels T has up is pretty good, done by Brance himself, so it took her a while to understand. Even if someone asked her to do something more complicated than receive and transmit messages in the current system, she couldn’t. She’ll get there.

T watches the screen. She’s been doing it for hours and she’d spent the whole day before doing the same thing. Nothing has come of it, but at least she feels involved. 

T considers it again. She’ll tell Rey if she sees her today. 

She sees Rey. 

Rey comes jogging up towards T and she’s smiling, which is not an unwelcome sight by any means, but it is an unusual one. Rey’s been more comfortable around T recently and she can tell. It makes her feel so warm inside that she feels a little giddy whenever she sees Rey. 

“Hi,” T says warmly, once Rey’s close enough to hear. 

“Hey.” Rey stops near T and stretches her arms up over her head. T’s eyes follow the soft line that Rey’s body creates as she lengthens her upper body. She can’t tear her eyes away for the full nine seconds it takes Rey to finish stretching. Once she has, T’s eyes shoot back up to Rey’s and her cheeks flush. T knows Rey can tell she was looking at her and that it wasn’t out of innocent intention.

T feels incredibly embarrassed. “Hi,” she repeats. She mentally kicks herself for sounding so stupid. 

Rey smiles and raises an eyebrow and T cannot tell if that’s a good sign or not. “I just wanted to let you know we’re having a meeting tonight. Poe, Finn, and I have information for everyone, so meet us out by the Falcon.” 

T can’t help the little flutter in her stomach at the prospect of attending an actual Resistance meeting. “I’ll be there.” 

“Glad to hear it. Anything new come in?” 

“No. The waves are silent,” she says with a joking tone. It’s true that she doesn’t have any updates for Rey, unfortunately. Or maybe fortunately. 

“It was unlikely anything would come in this quickly, anyway. I did want to let you know that we sent a transport to Cantonica to bring back one of our med teams. So we should be in contact with them within the next few hours as long as that went smoothly with picking them up. Nobody knows about this move except us and a few supporters on Cantonica.” 

T nods. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

Rey leans her hand against the console. “Thank you. We’re looking to announce the return of the med team at the meeting tonight, so come find me the second a message comes in.” She pauses, maybe for effect. “You know how to get that to work?” Rey asks with a facetious air. 

T rolls her eyes playfully. “I think I can manage it.” 

“Great.” 

T opens her mouth to respond but just as she does, the channel she’s been tuned into sparks to life and a message begins transmitting over the air waves in a language T pretty immediately identifies as Cantonican. 

They both turn to face the console and T steps closer to turn the sound up so she can hear it more clearly. If there were more people around, they’d be listening in as well, but it’s around the time where most people leave their stations to find something to eat. 

She listens carefully, turning her ear towards the sound as if that actually helps. She makes eye contact with Rey while she mentally translates. While she isn’t incredibly comfortable with translating Cantonican, it’s similar enough to other languages she can make out what’s being transmitted. She almost wishes she couldn’t. 

T looks down at the console and lowers the sound once the message starts to loop.

Rey raises her eyebrows in a questioning motion. Her face is hopeful. That goes away once she notices T’s expression. “What?”

T pushes her hair out of her face and checks the transmission to make sure it’s from a reliable source so she doesn’t give Rey false information. She translates along with the message as it’s still playing quietly. “Resistance med transport has been destroyed. Fifth Sons. No survivors.” 

Rey’s face pales slightly. 

T turns off the transmission. She doesn’t want to look at Rey any longer because it breaks her heart to see her look so dejected. T takes the few moments she has to send a response back that they’ve received the intel and they’ll respond later with more information. 

Rey sighs and gently places a hand on T’s arm, just above her wrist, a place that Rey likes to touch apparently. “I have to go tell Poe and Finn. You’re sure that’s what the message says?” 

T nods, but still doesn’t dare to make eye contact with her. “Yes. I’m so sorry, Rey.” 

Rey lets go of T and sighs softly, but doesn’t say anything. When T finally looks up, she’s gone. She runs a hand over her face and sits down, tucking her legs up so as to make herself seem as small as possible. She can’t help but feel almost responsible, even though she knows that’s not the case. It was hard to see Rey so upset, especially when that distress was in T’s direction. 

T doesn’t even know how many Resistance members have been lost. 

She does what Brance briefed her on taking care of once they received new information so the system doesn’t get hacked or otherwise compromised. 

T knows she has to tell Rey. It might not even be anything, but she has to know. Maybe the figure she saw sneaking past or out of Lando’s ship wasn’t anything, but how did the Fifth Sons get the information regarding the transport? She can’t help the sinking feeling in her gut. 

When it’s about time, T shuts down the console she’s been staring at for hours and makes sure everything is locked up properly. Poe had come by earlier to dictate a message for her to send back to Cantonica about how they should proceed. T could tell he was barely holding in his anger. 

“I thought it was over,” he’d said to her. That was hard to hear. 

As T stands up from her seat, she runs her hands down the front of her clothes, straightening them out. She’s dreading the meeting, but she makes her way down to the Falcon to meet with the other members of the Resistance. As she approaches the group, she notices where Finn, Rey, Poe, and Chewie are standing. She entertains the idea of going to stand by them for a few seconds before instead deciding to take her place next to Brance and Beaumont Kin.

Brance nods to her. “Hey, T,” he says, obviously not aware of why the meeting was called. “How’s everything?” 

She manages a smile. “I like to believe I’m taking on my new position with grace.” 

“I trust that.”

“Thank you for all your help.” 

T has only really spoken to Kin a few times, but he gives her a smile before they’re turning their attention to Poe, who has just started to get everyone focused on him. 

“Hi everyone,” Poe says, projecting his voice to make sure everyone in the huddle can hear him. He has no semblance of a smile on and T’s sure that it becomes immediately clear to all of them that this isn’t good news. “As some of you know, we had a transport sent to Cantonica to pick up a med team that we had there. Unfortunately, the transport was destroyed on its return, and we have lost everyone on it. We’re not sure, but it’s likely that the Fifth Sons were involved.” 

Poe goes on to list the names of the individuals that were part of the med team. T doesn’t recognize any of them, but that’s not necessarily surprising. 

“We’re so grateful to those who have donated their time to making this transport happen and I apologize that we even have to have this conversation. Please let Rey, Finn, or I know if you know anything that could be helpful to figuring out how this information was released.” Poe ends his little speech with a smile and Finn gently presses his hand on Poe’s back as a sign of solidarity. 

Finn and Rey don’t say anything while Poe dismisses the group. T knows it’s the right time to bring up what she knows to them. She makes her way over to Rey and the other two, but Poe and Finn are so enthralled in talking to each other, they barely notice T. 

“Hey, I have something to tell you.” T doesn’t beat around the bush. 

Rey furrows her eyebrows a little bit. 

T tells Rey what she saw and very carefully studies Rey’s reactions as she does so. She looks concerned for the majority of the time that T is talking, but at the end, her facial features drop into a more neutral expression. 

“That’s concerning,” she finally says. 

“Yeah, I just wanted to let you know. I could be wrong, of course. I might have missed something.” 

“Either way, that could easily be a part of our problem. Will you get in contact with Lando tomorrow and see if he knows anything about it? I’ll talk to Finn and Poe about where to go from there.” 

“Of course.” 

Rey smiles at her. Finn and Poe had walked off pretty far away, so T and Rey are alone. The way that the moon shines and reflects off the Falcon onto Rey’s face is really beautiful and T can’t help but smile a little bit. Rey turns a little bit so she and T are standing almost side by side. Rey leans her head onto T’s shoulder. 

T sucks in a sharp breath even from that small touch. 

The moment is very short lived and Rey tilts her head back up. “I can’t help but feel like I failed them,” she says so quietly, T almost doesn’t hear her. 

T turns and gently grabs Rey’s wrist, not trying to overstep the really not specified boundaries, but the moment feels right. “None of this is your fault.” 

Rey doesn’t really say anything, but she also doesn’t make a move to get away from T. 

T continues. “I’m sorry it happened. It doesn’t mean that you have done anything wrong. This was out of the hands of the Resistance.” 

Rey sighs gently. “I know.” She moves her hand out of T’s grasp. T’s heart drops but quickly shoots back into her throat as Rey grabs her hand and interlocks their fingers. “Thank you.” 

T’s not sure who makes the technical first move, but they’re kissing seconds later. Rey is warm and it’s maybe the most gently T has ever been kissed. At some point, Rey’s other hand wraps around T’s hip and they’re so much closer together. T has basically no idea where to put her other hand, but winds up placing it gently against the side of Rey’s neck. 

They both end up pulling away carefully from each other around the same time. T’s happy to notice that Rey’s breathing just as heavily as she is. They stay in their same positions, just kind of staring at each other and it’s  _ nice _ . 

Rey clears her throat and fully retracts herself from T. T immediately feels cold with the loss, but sucks it up and takes a step back. She looks down, too afraid to even look Rey in the eyes right then. 

T knows it was a mistake. This is going to ruin everything between them and she’s not sure she can handle the reality of that. She looks up for the shortest amount of time possible. “I’ll see you later,” she says, and turns around, walking away. She knows she’s being dramatic, but that kiss meant way too much to her to pretend she’s not affected. 

She kind of hopes Rey will run after her and make out with her or something, but she doesn’t. T sleeps in her typical place, putting the kiss out of her mind as best she can. 

She wakes up with a stiff neck to Rey crouched next to her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It happened! wow.


	6. Chapter 6

“I need you to come with me.” 

“What?”

T groggily sits up, which forces Rey to lean back out of her face. 

“Sorry,” Rey apologizes, standing up and waiting for T to join her before finishing. “Just come with me.” She doesn’t explain why or even where they’re going, but T follows her anyway. What does she have to lose? 

As they walk, Rey is completely silent and is always a step ahead of T (which just feels normal at this point, both physically and mentally).

This, of course, makes T wonder if her silence has anything to do with the night before. She hopes Rey isn’t upset with her or uncomfortable and unfortunately, T hasn’t learned to read Rey as well as she would have hoped. She’s got a hard shell that doesn’t look like it’ll crack open soon. T maybe caught a glimpse of Rey’s soft interior when they kissed (and in the few nice moments beforehand), but does a moment of weakness really constitute Rey opening up to her? 

T doesn’t ask where they’re going. 

Poe, Finn, and Chewbacca come up to them, half running and half trying to pretend that they’re not running. Well, maybe Chewbacca isn’t pretending he’s not in a hurry. He doesn’t seem like the type to be ashamed of how quickly he’s going somewhere. Finn oddly looks like he’s been crying and Poe looks even more angry than usual. 

Rey smiles, but it’s strained. “Hi, guys,” she says. “Are you ready?” 

T must frown because Finn reaches out to place a comforting hand on her arm. 

Rey doesn’t even look in T’s direction. That hurts a little bit.

Poe nods curtly. “We’re all good to go.” 

T still has basically no idea what’s happening and she feels overwhelmed and confused, but she’s ready to go if it means she’ll be helpful. 

“Right. We‘ll take the Falcon,” Rey says, using it as a kind of dismissal for the other three to get to the ship. They leave and T waits for Rey to explain. “Sorry, T, I know this is abrupt, but I don’t have the time to explain all of it right now. We have to leave. Can you trust me?”

T wants to run to the tallest tree and scream  _ yes!  _ to the whole galaxy because of course she trusts Rey. She’d do anything for Rey to trust her right back. T recognizes the magnitude of the situation, even if she doesn’t know the details. “Yes.” She manages a tense smile that maybe Rey can take comfort in. “Let’s go.”

Rey doesn’t really show it in her face, but T thinks she sees her release some worry from her shoulders. 

They get to the Falcon and T is in awe the whole time, trying her hardest not to act like an idiot or trip over her own feet as she follows Rey. She’d heard tons of stories about the Falcon - Lando really wouldn’t shut up about it most of the time. He loves that ship so much. T is humbled to be there. 

When they take off, T has to brace herself against the wall. It’s clear that while well-loved, the Falcon is very old and doesn’t fly as smoothly as it probably did when Lando was a younger man.

The other four obviously have their positions in the running of the Falcon and T tries to stay out of the way, at least until they’ve settled in. Poe and Chewie fly the ship and T can tell that Rey wishes it was her instead of one of them, but she doesn’t complain. She probably doesn’t want to start a fight (and knowing Poe, it definitely would). Finn makes sure all the weapons systems are secure and ready in case of use then settles into the main space of the Falcon, finding a seat where he can lean back and close his eyes. T’s sitting across the room from him and if she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was asleep. 

Rey enters the room after having spoken to Poe and Chewie for a few minutes after the ship took off and she finds her way over to sit down next to T. T notes that she’s not sitting as close to her as she has in the past, but she feels like she’s probably splitting hairs. 

“I’m sorry for not explaining things earlier.” 

Rey’s kind of whispering in order to not disturb Finn so T matches her volume level.

“It’s alright.” 

Rey lets out a shaky breath before starting to talk. “Poe, Finn, and I have a contact on Tatooine. We know that he’ll have information about the Fifth Sons, but he’s kind of a hermit, so not accessible through radio communication. We made a plan to find him and figure out what he knows. Well, it’s mostly Poe’s plan. I think Finn, Chewie, and I are here to make sure he doesn’t do anything particularly violent or rash. Although,” Rey’s voice drops to something that’s almost indiscernible. “I’m more worried about Finn doing something rash. He tends to not have a filter for his actions when the safety of those around him is involved.” 

T smiles a little. It’s true, but she’s glad Rey didn’t say it loud enough for him to hear her. 

Rey continues, back up to her original volume. “There’s no reason this should give them any reason to act out.” 

Sometimes Rey spoke of Finn and Poe as if they were hormonal adolescents who needed someone to curb their worst instincts. 

“We need you to talk to him for us. He only speaks Huttese.”

T’s glad she brushed up. 

“Is that okay?” Rey asks. 

“Of course.” T has no reason not to go along with it, especially when she’s already on the Falcon, on the way to Tatooine. What is she going to do, say no and stay in the ship while her companions stumble their way through translating Huttese without her? 

“Sorry again.” 

T shakes her head softly. 

Now that Rey doesn’t necessarily have a reason to talk anymore, there’s silence between them. T’s eyes flit to Finn, who hasn’t moved from his position the entire time she and Rey have been sitting there. She looks back at Rey. It’s awkward. She can’t deny it, but she wishes it wasn’t like that. The situation is specifically uncomfortable for T because all she can think about doing is climbing on top of her lap and kissing Rey so hard she can’t breathe. She can only hope that Rey has the same reasoning. 

Rey doesn’t make eye contact with T. She eventually stands up and leaves the room, only glancing back in T’s direction once right as she leaves. By that point, T has looked down at the floor, but she can feel Rey’s gaze. It doesn’t feel as warm when T isn’t meeting it with her own. 

Maybe seconds after Rey has left the room, Finn lifts his head and makes direct eye contact with T. “I heard all that.” 

T blushes. 

“And felt the uncomfortable atmosphere that came after.” 

T breaks her gaze away from Finn’s. “So it’s not just me.”

“I’m surprised Chewie and Poe didn’t feel it.” 

She feels embarrassed but also a little validated that she’s not making her now-strained relationship seem more of a disaster than it is. 

She shouldn’t have kissed Rey. Or Rey shouldn’t have kissed her. She’s still super unsure who initiated it. 

“Sorry if we bothered you.” 

Finn smiles, but T can tell there’s something off about it. His eyes look sad. 

“Why aren’t you up there with Poe?” 

Aha. 

Finn’s eyes train down on the floor and T can tell that’s the reason he seems upset. 

She prods very gently. “Are you okay?” 

Finn rubs his forehead with the heel of his hand for a moment. “Yes. We had an argument earlier and it got out of hand. We’ll be fine.” 

T doesn’t know Finn or Poe well enough to have an inside view into their relationship, but she hopes Finn means it when he says they’ll be alright. She gives Finn a smile and a grateful nod. She always feels safe when talking to Finn or even just being in his presence. She stands up to leave.

Finn has returned to his previous position so T doesn’t have to make up some excuse to tell him where she’s going. She has no clue, but she can’t sit for any longer. 

T wanders around the Falcon, touching all the walls as she does, liking the hum that the ship gives as they follow their fairly steady course. She wonders how long it will take to get there. 

Before she can think about it much longer, she rounds a corner (that she’s rounded at least twice before) and Rey’s in her path. 

“Uh, hi.” The words tumble out of T’s mouth before she can even think to stop them or replace them with anything more eloquent. 

“Hi.” Rey seems a lot cooler than T feels. 

“Sorry.” T can’t seem to meet Rey’s eyes. She stares at her shoulders instead. She’s wearing a vest over her normal layer of clothing that exposes just the tops of her shoulders and T devours the sight of her skin. She wants to kiss every inch of it and run her nose over it for the rest of time. 

Her cheeks flush. 

“We’ll be there soon,” Rey promises. 

T looks up and finally tries to catch Rey’s gaze, but for a split second, it’s fairly obvious that Rey had been staring at T’s mouth. Her eyes dart back up to T’s quickly enough that she’s wondering if her eyes are playing tricks on her. 

By the way that Rey looks almost guilty once they look at each other again, T can tell she didn’t make it up.

“Is there anything else I can do?” T asks, mostly feeling bad that she can’t be studying her books on Huttese or making herself of some other use to the group. 

Rey shakes her head. “No, it’s okay.” After the shortest moment of silence, she reaches up and brushes a piece of hair out of T’s face. Her hand lingers for just a moment and T holds her breath the whole time. She thinks she may never breathe again because of how good it feels to have Rey’s hand touching her. 

T slowly reaches up and presses her hand on top of Rey’s, softly pushing it against her cheek. She’s given herself an excuse to lean her head just slightly to the left so she can rest more securely against her hand. 

T closes her eyes so that they’re not looking at each other, but that doesn’t really matter. It’s so nice and reminds T that when they kissed the night before, it was so comfortable and warm. It reminds her that  _ maybe _ this isn’t one-sided. 

That idea is knocked out of her head when someone coughs and both of their hands drop and they both step away from each other. Poe stands just behind Rey and has a grin on his face that T finds to be insufferably smug. 

“Uh, Rey, could you come help me with something?” 

Rey nods. The spell is officially broken. And maybe it broke when they both noticed Poe standing there for the first time, but T still has residual  _ Rey _ flowing through her veins and through her head. 

“Give me a moment,” Rey says, surprising T. She absolutely thought Rey would take any opportunity to get away from T after the awakening they just had. She doesn’t explain to Poe why and he just takes her at his word, leaving the two of them alone again. Rey turns back to T. “I did actually have something to tell you.” 

Rey has gone back to her unwavering self, no sign that she’d been practically  _ caressing  _ T’s face thirty seconds before. T still feels pretty flustered, but that has become a constant in her life where Rey is involved. 

Rey continues. “I talked to Finn and Poe about last night.” 

T’s eyes go as wide as possible. 

“What you told me about.” 

“Oh. That.” 

Rey continues with no hesitation. “Finn and Poe don’t know anything about Lando’s ship or if anyone could have snuck into camp from there. I know I didn’t exactly give you a chance to talk to Lando, but when we get back to camp, you should have the opportunity to communicate with him.” 

Honestly, T had kind of forgotten about that entire conversation. The thing that followed seemed a lot more important when in the moment. It might be horrible to think like that, but she can’t help it. 

“Thank you. I’ll do that as soon as we get back.” 

Rey gives T a tight smile. She leaves, this time, not sparing her a second glance. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I am so sorry it took me forever to write this chapter. It's also a lot shorter than I wanted it to be so :/ 
> 
> I've been, uh, writing a lot of SnowBaz content so not necessarily focusing on this. My b.

T decides to visit Poe and Chewie in the cockpit. Rey had promised they were almost there, but T has seen no payoff of that, so she is doing her best to find something to pass the time with. 

When she steps into the cockpit, Poe and Chewie are in a very serious argument, which she can only understand half of, but they stop pretty soon after she walks in. 

“That’s not how it works, Chewie!” Poe practically yells before quieting down and turning to T. “Sorry,” he sighs. “Did you need something?” 

“No,” T assures him, a little embarrassed that she walked in on something that seemed important. Chewie seems to still be pouting about it, fully turned away from Poe and T, punching buttons angrily. “I just wanted to say hello and check in on everything.” She’s also partly avoiding Rey but she’s not exactly going to bring that up to Poe, who she barely knows. 

T constantly feels like she’s on shaking ground whenever she thinks about her relationship with Rey and the most recent development of having an oddly romantic moment in the hallway is not helping that at all. 

“Well, everything’s going well. Actually, we’re coming up on Tatooine pretty soon,” Poe promises. Despite his recent argument with the Wookiee to his right, he seems in pretty decent spirits (which T has only seen a handful of times). “Did Rey fill you in on everything?” 

T nods. 

“Good. She’s been out of sorts recently.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Rey takes a lot of stress on her shoulders, especially in a situation like this, so she’s under a lot of pressure right now and Finn and I can tell when it’s really affecting her. She’s doing things that don’t seem like her. She’s emotionally fragile.” 

T frowns out of instinct and is grateful Poe’s not facing her. “Oh.”

Poe changes the subject. “Sorry for throwing you into this.” 

T shrugs a little, trying to shake off thoughts of Rey. “No worries. I get to actually put my Huttese to use for the first time in a while.” 

“How does one even learn Huttese?” Poe asks, leaning over to flip a switch off that’s blinking. 

“I grew up mostly on Tatooine and you tend to just pick it up.” 

That’s only partly true, but T doesn’t need to go into her background of learning a language associated with the Hutts. 

“Sure.” Poe doesn’t necessarily dismiss T, but the conversation feels over. She spares one last glance at Chewie and heads back out the way she came. 

T takes what Poe said to heart more than she should. If Rey is really not acting like herself and especially emotionally fragile, then was T taking advantage of her in some way? T’s having trouble wrapping her head around it, but she knows she can at least stay away from Rey for a little bit, at least in any sort of romantic context. If they’re alone together, T maybe won’t be able to stop herself from kissing her. 

T barely makes it ten paces down the hallway before Poe shouts after her. 

“Hey, we’re here!” 

T turns around to see Poe leaning out of the doorway and grinning at her. 

“We’re about to make a landing, so hold on tight.” 

She can only hope he’s joking. 

The landing is kind of rough, but not as bad as Poe made it seem. T’s used to worse, but she still holds onto a doorframe as they descend. There isn’t any sort of window where she’s standing so she can’t see the landing, but she can’t wait to see her home again, after being gone for so long. Is it even her home anymore? T’s not sure, but the feeling in her stomach makes it feel that way. More home than Pasaana ever was. Maybe Lando would be upset with her for thinking that. 

Once the landing gear has been engaged and the walkway starts to drop down, T gets dust and sand in her eyes, which she is incredibly used to, but it has been a little while. Once she has blinked and cleared her eyes, she steps out onto the familiar sand of her childhood home, Tatooine. It feels exactly the same as it did years before. 

While T is the first one out of the ship, Finn and Rey follow quickly. Poe and Chewie take a little bit longer as they’re making sure everything’s in place before disembarking. All five of them just stand together for a little bit, taking in the planet around them. T’s not sure if the others have ever been on Tatooine, but she hopes they know exactly where they’re going because it all looks the same and she hasn’t been briefed on where specifically they’re headed. 

“This way.” Poe takes charge and heads towards a small cluster of buildings that basically blend in with the monotone coloring of the entire planet. 

They all follow, T mentally running over basic phrases in Huttese, worried that her lack of use will bite her in the ass when she tries to translate. It’s even more nerve-wracking because she doesn’t even know what they’re going to talk about so she can’t mentally prepare. 

It’s hot. Unbearably so and T is reminded why she wanted to leave so badly a few years earlier. She sheds her outer layer and ties it to the belt on her waist, already feeling a lot more comfortable. 

Poe leads them into one of the buildings, followed closely by Rey muttering things to him assumedly about the meeting and how they’re going to conduct themselves. T’s not paying attention to where they’re going, distracted by trying to take everything in. 

The contact they’re going to meet must live fully underground as Poe takes them down several flights of stairs until T can barely see Finn striding in front of her because the light has been so cut off. T wishes she could even just catch a glimpse of Rey. 

They stop in a narrow hallway just outside a door that T wouldn’t have recognized as an entry point if Poe hadn’t pulled her up the front of the group and pointed it out to her. Poe directs her to speak into the small opening just in the center of the door, translating what Poe quotes to her into Huttese. 

The message leads to whoever is behind the door swinging it open and ushering them all inside, which is quite a handful, especially for Chewbacca, who has to crouch almost in half in order to get through the doorway. 

The room is small enough that they have to press fairly close together, but not uncomfortably so. T ends up standing between Rey and Poe (out of the necessity of translation) but it still feels weird to be there, to feel like she’s a leader of the group. She’s not, of course, but it makes her feel important. 

The man they’re assumedly meeting with is kind of huddled in the corner after having shut the door behind them. He’s hunched over and wearing a robe that covers his head. 

“Hello,” Poe starts, taking a minuscule step forward, just to let the stranger identify him. 

T doesn’t feel that she needs to translate that. Plus she hopes that either Poe or Rey will tell her when she needs to start translating, or at least hit her on the shoulder. 

She doesn’t have to take that into account before the man in the corner of the room leans his head up to look at T right in the eyes and ask if she is the translator. 

She nods, asking back how he knew that. 

He says he can always recognize someone who is from Tatooine. 

Poe nudges T. “What’s he saying?” 

T shakes her head. “Nothing of importance. What do you need me to say to him?”

Poe doesn’t have time to start talking before the hooded figure is, T immediately repeating everything to Poe and Rey and doing her best to translate on the fly. 

“Uh, he says he has information regarding the Fifth Sons. He knows who their new commander is, um, after the First Order was no longer in existence. He can give us the name as long as his name is never brought up in any negotiations or if we contact them at all.” T pauses. “He repeated that last part twice, so I think he really means it. Can you promise him he won’t ever be mentioned? He wants to make sure.” 

Rey nods. “We won’t bring your name up, no matter what.” 

T repeats that to the man and he refolds his hands in his lap. He starts to speak again and T translates. 

“He thanks you. The man who now controls the Fifth Sons goes by Des. He and most of the other people in charge of the group are on Bespin. They have supporters all across the galaxy so it’s not surprising that our transport was destroyed.” The man pauses so T does as well. “That’s all he knows.” 

“Thank you so much,” Rey says immediately, making eye contact with Poe, who is obviously not happy that they aren’t getting more information from this meeting. 

T thanks the man as Poe leans in and whispers to her, kind of angrily. “Is there nothing else he can tell us?” 

T returns that to the man in the kindest way possible. 

The man shakes his head. 

T thanks him again. 

Poe doesn’t look happy. 

“Let’s go, Poe,” Rey says, reaching across T to tug at his arm in an attempt to get them out of there. Even if they haven’t overstayed their welcome yet, Poe’s likely to do something stupid. 

Poe begrudgingly allows Rey to pull him backward and out the door, following Chewie and Finn. T is the last to leave, giving the man a final nod of thanks and goodbye. 

They return the way they came, T following behind the back of the group, trying not to stare at the way Rey’s hips move when she walks. T can hear Finn saying something softly to Poe, assumedly trying to calm him down, even though T can tell they’re still fighting. It’s a little tense. 

All she can make out from the conversation is Poe whisper-yelling, “Waste of time!”

They make it back to the ship fairly quickly and T’s grateful for the excuse to put her outermost layer back over her shoulders. It’s colder on the Falcon. 

T’s hand brushes Rey’s when they get onto the ship and start to both head down the same hallway. They stop and make the barest minimum of eye contact. T looks away quickly, but almost wishes she hadn’t. Maybe just looking at her would show Rey that T thinks she’s the most beautiful person she’s ever seen. 

Unfortunately, T isn’t brave enough for that and ever since Poe told her that Rey  _ hasn’t been acting like herself _ , T feels guilty for everything she’s done in the last two days. T thinks about the kiss again and once she’s found her seat in the main area of the Falcon, she ducks her head into her hands. 

T can’t wait to get back to base and sleep. 


	8. Chapter 8

T sleeps longer than she should, but they all do. When they got back to the base, Finn and Poe dropped into Finn’s bunk and Rey fell into hers. T wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep in the dwindling daylight outside so she silently climbed into the extra bunk that had been offered to her a while ago. She hopes that offer hasn’t expired.

T doesn’t have trouble falling asleep but once she’s out, her subconscious is racing with dreams. When she wakes up, she can’t seem to remember what her dreams were about. 

T is, fortunately, the first person to wake up (and rightly so; it’s far too early) so she can slip out without being noticed. Even though that was probably the best sleep she’s gotten in a while (her neck isn’t wrecked for once), she’s not sure she can stay in that bunk again. It was nice being that close to Rey and she felt safe in a room full of people who were becoming her friends, but there are so many outside factors that she’s not sure she can ignore. 

T gets to her station and can tell either Brance or Beaumont Kin have been keeping it on and checking in on all the relevant channels while they were gone. She tunes into the proper frequency and sends a message to where she hopes Lando will get it. 

She spends all day there, waiting, hearing nothing. Nobody T recognizes passes by her all day so she sits in silence and runs over everything in her head. She’s able to start up a few conversations with people who are working on things near her, but she doesn’t really remember anyone’s name. It’s lonesome. 

She doesn’t get a response until the next day, and it’s not the answer she was looking for. 

T copies down the message in order to relay it back to Poe, Finn, or Rey, whoever she sees first, but before she can leave to go find one of them, Rey’s walking towards her. 

T reminds herself that she _can’t_ just run towards Rey and make out with her forever, but she’s really considering it the whole time Rey is coming at her. 

“Hi,” T breathes, taking a couple of steps away from her console to meet her. 

“Hey,” Rey says, cool as ever. “Have you gotten in contact with Lando?” 

T nods, hoping that she’d had more time to rehearse exactly what she was going to say to Rey. She typically does. “Yes. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know anything. He’s sorry.” 

Rey clenches her jaw a little bit but nods her head after a moment. “You’re sure he’s not hiding anything?” 

T is taken aback and a little bit hurt for her friend and mentor. “Of course not. What would he be hiding?” 

Rey shakes her head. “I’m just covering my bases,” she says softly. “I don’t believe that he would lie to us, but I know you know him best.” 

Even though T does indeed know Lando best, it’s hard to judge whether someone is being truthful or not across a recorded message. She chooses to believe that he doesn’t know anything, and she knows that when he left, he seemed carefree (and not like he was keeping secrets from her). “He’s not lying,” she assures Rey. 

“Alright,” she says, and T can tell she feels uncomfortable. They’ve run out of things to talk about and while T does not want Rey to leave (ever), she doesn’t know what else to say. 

T tries to look for something unusual in Rey’s eyes, something that proves Poe’s statement of her not being herself, but they’re clear and T doesn’t know them well enough to know a difference, anyway. 

“Did you sleep in our barracks the last night?” Rey asks, letting her eyes flit away from T to train on the ground. “It looked slept in,” she explains a little further, probably noticing T’s shocked look out of the corner of her eye. 

“Uh,” T mutters. “Yeah. Sorry.” 

“No, don’t be sorry,” Rey insists. “You’re still welcome to it. I just wasn’t used to it.” She smiles a little bit. “I’m glad that Finn offered it to you. It’s been empty for far too long.”

T feels marginally comforted. “Thanks. I probably won’t sleep there again, so you won’t have to get used to it.” 

Rey looks back up at T. “Is it uncomfortable?

“No.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want to stay in that room with us?” 

T wants to tell her that she can’t sleep that close to Rey without thinking about other things she’d like to do to her on a bunk. Of course, she doesn’t say that. She just shakes her head softly. “I just don’t feel like I-” she takes a soft breath. “-belong there.” 

Rey looks empathetic, reaching out and touching her shoulder gently. She doesn’t ask why T feels like she doesn’t belong there, which T appreciates. “Please, sleep there tonight. Just one more night and see if you get more comfortable.” 

T pauses, not able to form a verbal response at first. 

“For me,” Rey adds. 

T blinks a little bit, chest tightening. She’d do anything for Rey, especially if it includes sleeping twelve feet away from her (and not on the ground). She nods finally, the pressure of Rey staring at her affecting her ability to form coherent thoughts. “Of course.” 

Rey lets go of T’s shoulder and smiles softly. “Thank you. I’ll see you tonight, then?” she asks, already starting to step away, walking backward so she doesn’t have to change her angle in looking at T.

T can’t help the smile that creeps onto her face. “See you tonight,” she confirms, waving a little bit as Rey walks away from her, finally turning around and jogging off. T feels like she’d been holding her breath the whole time Rey had been there and exhales sharply once she’s gone. God, she likes her so much.

T turns back to her console, only to find someone standing in her way. She’s a few paces away from it so the man standing in from of the station isn’t in her personal space at all, but it is surprising enough that T takes half a step back.

He’s too tall. He would be towering over T if she was any closer to him. He’s wearing clothes that are a lot dirtier and dustier than anyone else’s on the base, making Rey assume he’s working as a mechanic or technician, working on ship maintenance. 

“Um, hello,” she says, staying back. She’s not great with new people and he appeared so quickly, she briefly wonders if she’s imagining him being there. 

He doesn’t bother with pleasantries. “I need to tell you something.” 

T furrows her brow. “Sorry, I’m not in charge at all. I can get Rey for you if you’d like.” 

“No,” the man insists. “I have to talk to you. You’re T, right?” 

T feels like collapsing to the floor. How does this person know her? She considers denying that’s who she is, but it feels wrong to start out a conversation with lying. “Yes. And you are?”

The man steps closer, which makes T insanely uncomfortable. He ignores her question. “Please, I just need to speak to you.”

T has more than half a mind to yell for help and run as fast as she can in the opposite direction, but the man doesn’t look intimidating enough to warrant that extreme of a reaction. She nods a little bit. “What do you need?” she asks, wary. 

“Can we go somewhere more private?” 

“Okay.” T assumes this is a surefire way to be killed, but there’s no way to leave the situation without being suspicious (and she’s interested in what he has to say to her that couldn’t be said to Rey, Poe, or Finn). 

He leads her away from her usual workplace, down past a grouping of ships that she’s never really noticed before. T makes note that, once they stop, they’re probably within earshot of some people so she could scream and be rescued.

Once the man stops and turns back to her, T folds her arms over her chest, but doesn’t say anything. She waits for him to explain what’s going on. 

“Sorry about all the secrecy,” he says carefully, taking a breath before continuing. “I’m with the Fifth Sons.” 

T’s eyes widen and she subconsciously takes a step back. 

He notices her expression and holds his hands up in a position of innocence. “No, no, it’s okay. I’m not a very active member.” 

“Somehow that doesn’t make me any less inclined to have you captured and kicked off of this base,” T threatens (even though she probably doesn’t have that kind of authority). 

“I came here around when you did. Lando allowed me a safe passage on his ship in order to get here. I heard you speaking to Rey about it.” 

T flushes. She wonders how much he heard (or saw) that night. 

“I wanted to speak to you in hopes that you’ll listen to me and not turn me in. I came here to get away from the Fifth Sons. If they found out I was here, I’d be killed, and the base would be destroyed.” 

T’s kind of floored, unsure of what to say. She had hoped so desperately that the figure she saw has been her imagination. Why had Lando lied to her?

The man continues. “I can’t trust anyone else, T. I would ask that you don’t repeat any of this to anyone else. I’ve found a place for myself here and I don’t want to lose that.” 

T’s too empathetic for her own good and she can’t help her desire to not betray his trust. She nods slowly. “Can I at least know your name?” 

“Jove.”

She pauses before responding. “Okay. I’m glad that you were able to get out of a bad situation.” As T says it, she’s not sure if she really means it. She’s still incredibly suspicious of Jove and she’s battling parts of her that want to tell Rey immediately. She also wants to ask Jove more questions, but the longer she’s alone with him, the less safe she feels.

“Thank you for your discretion,” Jove says, eyeing T as if she’ll deny keeping his secret.

T puts on her best straight face. “Of course. I have to get back to my station.”

Jove nods, but doesn’t make a move to follow her back to the main part of camp. T’s grateful that she doesn’t have to make any small talk with him. She goes back to her station.

T considers running to find Rey and telling her everything right then, but now that she knows that Jove has heard _at least one_ of their conversations, she doesn’t feel safe. (In addition, the idea of Jove seeing them kiss is mortifying). She’ll tell Rey later that night.

T never gets that chance.

When T heads back to the barracks for the night, trepidation filling her entire being, she slips in as quietly as possible. It’s fairly dark so she assumes at first that nobody is even in the room, eyes flitting over to Finn and Poe’s beds, but when looking at Rey’s bed, she recognizes the figure lying there.

T tries not to stare, not sure if Rey is asleep, but not wanting to take that chance. She instead focuses on getting into her own bunk. She reaches down to her bag and pulls out her brooch, fumbling it in between her fingers. She feels a little bit like crying as she’s reminded of her parents from the pendant, but she’s stopped as she hears Rey’s voice.

“What’s that?”

T starts, nearly dropping the brooch. She lets her eyes adjust a little bit to see Rey standing a few paces from her bunk.

“Uh,” T begins before clearing her throat. “It’s from my parents.”

Rey takes a few steps forward before kneeling down in front of T. “May I?” she asks, reaching forward.

T drops the brooch into her hand.

Rey turns it over in her fingers. “What’s the design of?”

T shrugs, propping her head up on her arm so she can watch Rey a little better. “I don’t know. They never told me.”

“It looks like a bantha.”

“That’s what I’ve always thought,” T says, laughing softly.

Rey hands it back to her, letting her fingers brush against T’s. “Why don’t you wear it?”

T shrugs. “I’m used to keeping it somewhere safe. If I lost it, I’d-” she cuts herself off, unable to finish the sentence.

Rey nods her head. “I understand.”

T smiles gently, but it falls when she remembers she should tell Rey about Jove and what he said to her.

Rey stands up before T can start a new conversation. “Sleep well,” Rey says quietly.

T nods. “You too.”

She does sleep well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it's been so long! I've writing a lot of other stuff and this got pushed to the back of my mind. I promise I'm still writing, though, and something big is gonna happen the next chapter for sure. :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this chapter took me a while as well. I just barely switched over to writing it on a Word doc instead of Google Docs and like half of this chapter didn’t save by accident so I had to rewrite it. Tough times.

T doesn’t get the chance to think before Rey is on top of her. T’s eyes shoot open once she feels Rey’s leg on top of her own and hands on her shoulders, jostling her awake.

“What-?” T stutters out, not sure how to react to the situation because Rey looks far too scared for this to be what T wants and hopes for.

“The base has been attacked.”

T sits up too quickly, knocking her forehead into Rey’s chin as she does so. To Rey’s credit, she readjusts quickly, scooting backward so she’s mostly sitting on the back part of the bunk, leaving T to look like an idiot as she adjusts.

“What?” T demands.

“We don’t know anything yet,” Rey starts, and T shouldn’t be thinking like this but Rey being so calm in the face of disaster is incredibly attractive. “Two ships were hit, but Poe is taking care of it. We assume it was the Fifth Sons.” Rey stands up, waiting for T to join her.

T gets up, straightening out her clothes. She processes everything that Rey told her as quickly as she can before nodding. “Okay. What do you need from me?”

“Let’s walk and talk,” Rey suggests, starting to leave the barracks. She looks antsy and T wonders if something worse happened that she’s not telling her.

T grabs her things quickly and follows after Rey, struggling to keep up with her, as usual.

“We need you to reach out to our contacts on Bespin and see if they know anything. Now that we know who Des is, we should be able to provide more credibility.”

“Okay.”

“The ships that were hit didn’t cause a lot of damage. Poe’s been dealing with it, but he actually got hurt in the process, so I have to go oversee him and the mechanics.”

T furrows her brows, feeling her stomach flip over at the idea that Poe is hurt. “Of course.”

Rey leads T down to where a ship is smoking and another still on fire. The area is clear of any sort of greenery, so there’s not a lot of damage to the surrounding landscape. There are several people running around to stop the fire and calling to each other in a panic. T sees Poe, who is kind of limping around the side of the burning ship.

Rey calls for him and he comes rushing over to them, his gait extremely offset, and as he gets closer, T can see the scorches on the side of Poe’s leg where his pants have been burned open. There’s blood as well, even if T can’t necessarily tell where it’s coming from.

“Rey,” Poe begins. No time for pleasantries. “Everyone is alright. I’ve got all the mechanics working on it. Clearly we’ve got just one under control.”

Rey frowns a little bit, staring down at Poe’s leg. “Right. Where’s Finn?”

Poe points Finn out behind him, who is rushing around one of the ships and calling out instructions to someone standing on top of the smoking ship and trying to fan the smoke out.

“Do you mind if I go check on him?” Poe asks. T thinks it’s sweet that even though Poe is clearly the one who is hurt, he still cares about Finn’s wellbeing. She just hopes that Finn convinces Poe to get his leg looked at.

“Go ahead. I’m going to stay with T and then check back. I just wanted to make sure everyone is alright,” Rey responds, very obviously eyeing Poe’s injury.

Poe starts to walk away. Well, limp away.

“Please get to a med team!” Rey calls after him.

Poe lifts his hand in a sign of recognition, but he doesn’t turn around. Poe doesn’t seem like the kind of person to be extremely concerned about his own health, especially when the entire base could be at risk.

Rey sighs, clearly upset that Poe won’t listen to her, but they tend to have a strained relationship. They’re both so damn stubborn. Rey turns and motions for T to follow (something that T does a lot of), heading back to her communications station.

T still doesn’t have a good opportunity to tell Rey about Jove, especially when she’s this obviously upset, so she decides to bring it up later.

Rey turns back to look at T and opens her mouth to say something when the sound of gunfire explodes over their heads. Rey immediately grabs T and pushes her underneath a nearby awning, stepping out so she can stare up at the sky. T looks up and sees a CloakShape fighter flying overhead, shooting in reckless abandon down on the base.

“Stay here!” Rey shouts, running back in the direction they came, assumedly to get into her X-Wing.

T’s not sure that she _can_ stay there and do nothing. She remembers the ship she came on. It wasn’t in great shape when she got it and judging by the position of the second CloakShape fighter that rushes past with its guns firing, it might be destroyed at this point.

T runs. She doesn’t see another ship, but she can hear people yelling and the sounds of shots hitting the ground, ships, and anything else in the ships’ paths. As T rushes to where she originally left her ship, she’s passed by others that she doesn’t recognize. She hears ships lifting off and somewhere, she can hear Chewbacca.

Once she finds her ship, T clambers into it, quickly powering everything on and making sure the weapons systems are functioning properly (she hadn’t needed them until now) before taking off, the ship creaking as it has been out of commission for a while now.

T isn’t a great pilot, but once he’s gotten a handle on where she is, she recognizes the carnage on the surface of the moon where the Resistance base exists. She sees the two CS fighters as well as two other ships on their tail – the Millenium Falcon and an X-Wing that she recognizes as Rey’s. She shoots her ship forward to follow after them.

T catches up to the other ships and flies closely behind them. Catching a glimpse of the Falcon, T sees that Poe and Chewie are piloting. She assumes Finn is manning the guns.

T watches in awe as Finn manages to take one of the wings of the CloakShape, causing it to start to spiral, half of the ship smoking. Rey takes out the ship completely by another well-aimed blast. They’ve smartly pushed the two fighters further away from the densely populated part of the base so as the ship falls out of the sky and hits the surface, exploding on impact, it won’t hurt any Resistance members or any important infrastructure.

T follows tightly behind Poe and Rey, keeping in close formation, but the CS fighter makes a sharp turn, whipping around so that it’s perfectly within T’s firing sights. T takes the shot and manages to clip the fighter’s wing, making the ship tilt enough to the side that as T’s weapons continue to fire, it falls right into her sights. More firing comes from the Falcon and from the X-Wing, helping to take down the ship. T watches as it falls and hits the ground in a cloud of fire and dust.

T feels like perhaps she should be smiling because of her assistance in taking down the ship, but her heart is pumping too quickly, body in fight or flight mode. She follows the other ships back to the central part of the base and T lands her ship in the same place she did the first day she joined the Resistance.

When she stumbles out of it, she makes her way back to the communications area where her station is. She hopes to beat Rey there.

No such luck. The second Rey sees her, she stalks towards T, the fury in her eyes intensely evident. T’s almost scared of being hit.

“I told you to stay put,” Rey insists, stopping just shy of T. T subconsciously eyes over Rey, checking for any sort of injury. She seems alright.

T looks down at her feet. She’s not that sorry. “I couldn’t,” she says simply.

Rey leans forward and presses her forehead gently against the top of T’s head. Rey’s hands reach up to hold onto her shoulders. “I was worried about you.” She’s quiet when she says it.

T isn’t sure it isn’t a dream, but she pushes softly into Rey’s touch. “I’m okay,” she promises.

Rey doesn’t seem to care that Poe and Finn are only a few steps behind them. She just holds T close to her for another few seconds. T’s not complaining.

Once Rey pulls back, leaving T cold without her touch, Finn appears next to her and smiles grimly at T. “Who knew you were a pilot?” he asks.

T blushes. “I just wanted to help.”

“You did,” Finn says, and he certainly doesn’t understand how much that means to T.

T pauses and looks between Finn and Rey. “What happened?” she asks. “Where’s Poe?”

“Poe’s getting his leg looked at,” Finn says. “We don’t know what happened. We’re doubling our security measures for now, just in case.”

Rey nods, corroborating Finn’s explanation. She’s lost any semblance of softness with T and now stands up straight, taking on the leadership role that she needs to in the situation that they’re stuck in.

“I’m going to go see the damage,” Rey says, and T can hear the worry waver her voice. “T, will you reach out to our contacts on Bespin?”

T nods. “Of course.”

She leaves and Finn and Rey standing behind her as she heads over to her station, powering up and tuning to the correct channels in order to access the Bespin contacts. She sends out a consistent message to all of them, taking extra time to send one to Lando as well. She gets a few responses quickly, all giving various forms of the same information: “Des and the Fifth Sons are responsible for the attack. They’re planning another attack of some sort. Their base on Bespin is under high security and has heavy foot traffic.”

The message from Lando is the one that concerns her.

“On Bespin. Meet me.”

He leaves a more detailed place as well as instructions for when.

T doesn’t pretend to believe that she could solve all their problems with one trip to Bespin by herself. That doesn’t mean she isn’t going to try.

If she left before dawn, she’d make it in time to meet Lando. Now that she’s had a little time to herself, T can’t help but feel guilty. She didn’t have a _great_ opportunity to tell Rey about Jove, but she could have found a way to tell her, she’s sure. If Rey (or Finn or Poe) had known about Jove, maybe this could have been prevented. T doesn’t know if she believes Jove’s story, but the coincidental timing is hard to ignore.

T decides to leave that night.


End file.
